Sakari Dixon Vanderveer

About In This Watershed Moment:

When I prepared myself to compose In This Watershed Moment, I immediately began to consider the context of the premiere as I often do with my new works. This event, the 2022 American Viola Society (AVS) Festival & 47th International Viola Congress, would be a chance for violists of many different backgrounds and nationalities to unite over a shared love of music—and our favorite instrument, of course! I was absolutely thrilled that I could get to know so many violists from around the world and learn more about their roles in the viola community.

As I reflected on how I might be able to connect this idea to the music itself, I eventually stumbled upon the photography of Rose-Lynn Fisher thanks to a friend of mine. While reading through Fisher’s book The Topography of Tears, I felt that it was a perfect representation of how much beauty and diversity we can find when we take a moment to look more closely at things that are otherwise familiar, going beyond what appears to be the same on the surface. I was captivated by how these tears, which were collected from many different sources and contexts, could exhibit such beautiful and intricate structures after being dried and photographed under a microscope. Ultimately, I decided to utilize just four of these amazing photographs as inspiration for the form and themes of this piece: “Compassion,” “Tears for those who yearn for liberation,” “Tears of elation at a liminal moment,” and “Yawning tears.”

– Sakari Dixon Vanderveer

About the Inspiration:

The Topography of Tears is published by Bellevue Literary Press, ISBN# 9781942658283. Photograph titles from this publication are used with permission from the author.

For more information about The Topography of Tears and other works by Rose-Lynn Fisher, visit www.rose-lynnfisher.com.

Photographs from The Topography of Tears may be licensed for showing in performance by contacting the author on her website.